If you’re like my family and me, we’ll be catching that big game nowhere near that sold-out stadium in Louisiana. Instead, we’ll be letting the good times roll in our own way. A few hours before those teams from San Francisco and Baltimore start tossing around that pigskin, we’ll pack up all of our tailgating gear, tailgating food and any other essential tailgate accessories and head to the park by the lake here in town. Once there, we’ll most definitely run into other neighbors who also have serious cases of tailgate on the mind. Welcome to our annual mid-winter gathering of tailgaters who love, love, love football.

But before the tailgate festivities can happen, we all make sure we have plenty of power generators and propane generators on hand. They’ll be giving life to the laptops that’ll be streaming the game live online. Plus, these power generators and propane generators will be fueling the grills, portable outdoor heaters and the appliances that will keep the food and drink warm and plentiful during what we hope will be a mild winter day. I can’t begin to tell you what a great and handy invention these power generators are. We found ours online at a pretty sweet savings deal. I like that this combination power generator does double duty as both a jump starter and portable power unit.

So while the techno-geeks among us set up the game-viewing area with the laptops, auxiliary monitors and power generators (the propane generators had another task), the kids get assigned the task of fanning out the tailgate furniture: foldout seats, tables and canopy or two. That leaves the cooks among us organizing our impromptu outdoor tailgate kitchen.

The power generators and propane generators are switched on and tailgate game-day grub is the name of the game. The park air is soon filled with the traditional aromas of easy tailgating recipes: chicken wings, chili, nachos, potato skins, sloppy joes, appetizers. I always like to throw in a non-traditional entrée to make things interesting. This year, I thought I’d honor the two top teams by firing up my power generator and getting my grill good and hot to heat up the pre-barbecued — and mostly rare — meat for Baltimore’s beloved pit beef sandwiches.

But instead of using the traditional Kaiser roll, I’ll be slicing up loaves of, what else? One of San Francisco’s culinary claims to fame: that super sourdough bread. My business partner (we run a little foodie catering business when I’m not musing about DIY) got her portable propane generator going and soon her stovetop had a pot filled with another SF staple: cioppino seafood stew, while her power generator kept her portable oven busy with mounds of Maryland crabcakes!

We’ll cheer the plays, we’ll reach for another serving of our favorite dishes from those easy tailgating recipes, and we’ll all be glad we didn’t offer to host this party at our own home. Just a quick clean up of our park “living room” and “kitchen”, pack in our tailgating gear, and call it another year until we meet again with our power generators, propane generators and other tailgating gear.

New Orleans may have their beignets, gumbo and jambalaya, but for our big game Sunday, nothing beats all that our tailgate parties have come to symbolize for us all these years.

Editor’s note: While the powers that be at said Big Game prohibit businesses from directly referencing their prized namesake, Advance Auto Parts can still offer you Super Savings on accessories, supplies and more, to get your tailgating party going in high style.